Back at the Lair, Smile scribbled a note to Boom Box.
Find Dr. D and tell him I need to talk to him alone. Tell him to get his rear in gear or I’ll short out. Boom Box took in the messy scrawlings, then took off to find the doctor.
In a matter of seconds Dr. Death Defying was coming out to meet with Smile just as she went inside to find a more private place to chat.
“What’s wrong?” Dr. Death Defying asked as the two settled in Smile’s room, the door firmly shut and insulated against eavesdroppers.
Dracs found us while we were out there. They knew exactly where we were & that we were alone. Someone leaked the news. 3 Dracs got out of a car and shot at us, but they went down. The fourth one stayed in the car and took off, but… I don’t know how to put this without sounding insane.
“Jesus, we’ve got a leak.” Dr. Death Defying breathed, then shook his head. “Whatever’s got you crazy is worse than the leak, isn’t it?”
Smile nodded once, hesitant, before scribbling on the notepad once again.
The Drac driving the car… it was Jet Star.
Dr. Death Defying sat frozen, staring at the note, shocked. “You’re heart attack?”
Completely. Smile nodded somberly, hating to be the bearer of bad news. I saw that afro on all the extermination posters, and the one time I saw the Fab Killjoys in action.
“Extermination posters?” Dr. Death Defying furrowed his brow, not familiar with the concept. Behind her helmet, Smile was shocked.
They’re posters with names and faces, like old-time ‘Wanted’ posters. Whenever someone gets doused, their picture gets a red ‘X’ over their face. The posters are on the outskirts of Battery City, because some Dracs were raised to live out on the desert as Killjoys, and just take care of whoever BLI put on the extermination list & posters. They’re called Exterminators. I have some of the posters in my bag. Tossing the notepad on her bed as Dr. Death Defying read through what she’d written, Smile got up and opened one of the smaller pockets of her worn leather bag. Unfolding the dusty, dog-eared papers, she handed them over, watching as the old radio DJ took in the faces.
“Party Poison, the Kobra Kid, Fun Ghoul, Jet Star, Dr. Death Defying, Agent Cherri Cola; exterminate at will. Boom Box; wanted alive.” He read off the first few pages in shock, then flicked through the rest. “You’re not here.” Suddenly he stiffened in his seat. “Are you some Exterminator?” He demanded, staring hard at the mysterious Killjoy before him.
Smile shook her head. No, I’m an honest-to-god Killjoy. She picked her pad back up.But I’m not the only one missing from your pile.
Dr. Death Defying frowned, then leafed through the stack of papers again. Some Killjoys already had the ‘X’, some were Killjoys he’d never met, and some he knew well from Fever Fests and raids on Drac convoys. It didn’t take him long to realize who was missing from the ranks of BLI’s most wanted.
“Show Pony’s been with us for years. I trust him with my life. He just… keeps his head down, is all.” Dr. Death Defying defended his friend.
I’m just saying, someone told BLI where Boom Box would be, with just one Killjoy guard. Smile shrugged.
“How do I know you didn’t just tell them? You got away, maybe they let you.”
With a silent sigh, Smile rolled up her sleeve, revealing the nasty burn from where she’d gotten shot. The blackened spot on her sleeve was invisible on the black fabric, but it was grotesque against her pale arm. Dr. Death Defying winced sympathetically.
I just made the list.

After getting patched up and heading back into the house, Smile wasn’t sure what to do with herself. There was nothing her bike needed, and she was avoiding Show Pony and Boom Box. Dr. Death Defying had disappeared off to do his radio show and keep his Slaughtermatic sounds pounding out to Killjoys across the Zones. So she wandered outside, staring out over the desert and wondering just what Better Living had done to the Fabulous Killjoys.

“Smile, wake up!” Boom Box’s voice called through the locked door, and the girl stirred, pulling her blankets over her head. “C’mon, we’re getting an early start for the Fever Fest in Zone 8!”
With a silent sigh, Smile climbed out of bed and knocked on the door, letting the young girl know she was awake. The night before, she’d snuck food into her room so she wouldn’t have to hunt it down and eat it in secret. She’d laid out her usually black uniform, too.

In the van, Dr. Death Defying cranked up the tunes, having set a playlist to run all day while he was away from his station. He and Boom Box were singing along animatedly, and Show Pony was tapping the steering wheel to the beat. Smile was the only one who seemed unfamiliar with the music.
“Don’t worry, everyone knows the next one. It’s pretty much the Killjoy anthem; all we do is carry on.” Dr. Death Defying assured her as a song about the terrors of teenagers ended, being replaced by a slow, sad piano.
“When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band…” Dr. Death Defying and Boom Box yelled out with the radio, and even Show Pony seemed to love the song. “He said, ‘Son, when you grow up, would you be the savior of the broken, the beaten, and the damned?’ He said, ‘Will you defeat them; your demons, and all the nonbelievers, the plans that they have made?’”
Smile just stared at the three Killjoys, then pulled out her pad. Nope, sorry. Don’t know the song.
Boom Box abruptly stopped singing, staring at the older girl in shock as Dr. Death Defying shot Smile a disbelieving look. “Oh, come on.” He snorted.
Really. I don’t know it. I don’t know any music, honestly.
“Jesus, that’s…” Dr. Death Defying shook his head, stunned. “Not right.” He stared at the girl, trying to see past her visor. The only place he’d ever heard of having no music was Battery City itself. There seemed to just be more and more reasons to think this girl was one of the Exterminators.